Sunday, July 16, 2017

I was already rediscovering country music this week when I overheard a coworker talking about being offered tickets to the Friday concert of Garth Brooks. I immediately searched online to see when he was playing. Turns out he already came to Dallas and I missed it, but he was playing four shows over two days in Oklahoma City - Friday and Saturday.

So I bought a ticket Friday morning! I was sure I would have to pay a crap-ton of money for a seat at the very edge, but I didn't! Imagine my surprise when all tickets on Ticketmaster were marked at $65 - and I mean every ticket. I learned that Garth doesn't believe in ticket-gouging, so he sets all tickets in the venue at the same price and forbids tickets to be resold at exorbitant markups. This. Is. Fantastic. I wish all artists did this.

I bought a ticket for the 3:00 p.m. showing on Saturday and made the relatively short drive to OKC. I found awesome, cheap parking a block or so away. Downtown OKC was packed! In addition to the two Garth Brooks shows, there was also an event at the Art Museum and a minor league baseball game.

I loved my seat in the middle section of the arena. The show opened with Mitch Rossell, a new-on-the-scene Nashville artist, who sand three songs. That was just the right amount - people came to see Garth and Trisha! It was only about twenty minutes later when Garth came out (since there was a second show at 7:00 there could not be any dilly-dallying).

He opened with "Rodeo", one of his most country-sounding songs. Garth made it a point to let us know that he would be playing the classics. And he did. He played all the classics (except for my favorite, "The Red Strokes"). When he started the notes for "In Another's Eyes" I knew Trisha would be making her appearance! They performed this song on The Tonight Show and they used it for the "official" video (I'd link to it, but Garth is notorious for not letting his official videos have homes on YouTube, which sucks because Garth makes really great videos).

After the duet Garth left the stage (likely needing, and deserving, a break) and Trisha took over. She is a fantastic singer and I love her personality. She sang her hits, too - "How Do I Live", "She's in Love With the Boy", and a ballad for cancer survivors.

Garth came back out and continued with the hits. "Shameless" was great, but used a weird light combination. "Callin' Baton Rouge" was excitedly rousing. I wasn't sure which song would be his closing song, since he already played all of his biggest hits (and I'm not use which of them is considered to be the biggest). He ended up closing out the show with "Standing Outside the Fire", which was a great choice.

Garth came back for the encore with just him and his guitar. Trisha came out and they sang a George Jones/Tammy Wynette duet before Garth requested his favorite Trisha Yearwood song, "Walkaway Joe." This song is a classic and she sang the crap out of it.

The band came back out (all of them have been playing with Garth and Trisha since '91/'92!) and took their bows (I forget what song they ended up playing...). Garth still puts on a good show, even if, by his own admission, sometimes the guitar he's strumming isn't live (maybe his vocals aren't live either...). I like the band and what they can do, but a big part of me likes it when it's just Garth (or any musician) on the stage with just their guitar. Garth is a showman, and he still has it after all these years. Him and Trisha make a great pair and put on a great concert.

You may not appear to be making much progress towards your long-term goal but you are doing better than you imagine and one day soon you will get the breakthrough you have been dreaming of. Never doubt that you will do something special in life. When the time is right you will be given your chance.